Color Blindness

James seems to have a hard time grasping the concept of colors. He gets orange and blue right most of the time, but the others not so much. He mostly will just say a color any color if you ask. Though he will pick up something blue or orange and say the correct color. Since my dad is Red/Green colorblind, it makes us wonder if James is too. I could be a carrier of the gene. The other day I was having a movie night with James and for a treat I had a bowl with some M&M's in it. We were sitting on the couch enjoying our treat and movie, when James starts picking up the M&M's naming their colors. He was actually getting them all correct, except for brown which he hadn't been taught yet. So I guess he isn't color blind or maybe just really good at guessing red and green. We'll just have to keep working with him on colors.

Bedtime

We have a little bedtime routine for James. I always take him to brush his teeth, which he always insist that I brush mine too. Then we go into the living room and tell Tracy it is bedtime. James will even says, "daddy, bedtime." Then Tracy will chase James into his room while making growling sounds. James will even make the growling sounds first. Trying to let Tracy know he wants to be chased. Then James gets tickles, hugs and kisses, and lights out for the night.

Well, last night I proceeded with bedtime as usual. I had to go into the living room to get "blankie." James then started making the growling sounds and asked "daddy?" Daddy wasn't there to chase him. I did my best to do both our parts for the night, but he sure was a little sad daddy wasn't around.

We just have to get through a couple more nights and his daddy will be back for a little bit. But then he'll be gone again for even longer. I'm sure we'll survive. It is just sad when a little boy wants his daddy, but daddy won't be home for a few days.

Our Future Home

This past week we took a trip to Riverside, CA, our future home. We decided to take this trip a few months prior to moving there, so we can get more familiar with the neighborhoods and attend church to meet some of the people. Also, since Tracy spent a couple of days there in February, he couldn't wait to show me why he fell in love with the city. Lets just say we had a good time mostly just driving around and looking at all we could.

The drive down was well, long and hot and boring. Not much to see or do when you're going through deserts, or as Tracy refereed to it as "Hell." We took 2 days to go down and spent our first night in Mesquite. One the first day we stopped in St. George at The Dinosaur Discovery at Johnson's Farm. Here is James looking at dinosaur tracks.

The next day we drove and drove and drove. James whined and whined and whined. He doesn't like having nothing to look at. We did make a quick stop in Vegas for pictures in front of the welcome sign. Big Bird just happened to be there as well. Couldn't have planned that any better.

My little sister came along as well.
It was nice having someone else to help keep James happy in the car.

Then we finally made it into California and had lunch in Barstow. After that James was happier and so were we. A few hours later we made it to our destination, Riverside. Checked into our hotel and headed around town. Tracy took us to the awesome Fairmount Park. We will then make a stop there just about everyday we are in Riverside. Arrived at the park just at sunset. Beautiful.

The next day we headed out to the beach. Took the ferry across the harbor to Balboa Beach. James thought the boat ride as fun. We also had a nice lunch on the pier at Ruby's Diner.

James' first time seeing the ocean.

Loved playing in the sand, as long as his feet didn't touch it.

The drive home from the beach wasn't very fun. It took longer since we hit the traffic out of LA, but we had to take my little sis past Disneyland. When we got back to Riverside, we were treated to dinner at Tio's Tacos by Tracy's soon to be graduate adviser, Mary. Her two kids and some other graduate students joined us. It was fun meeting everyone that will be apart of our lives down there.

Saturday we spent the morning at Parris Reservoir and then went driving around and looking at neighborhoods and possible house rentals. 

At Perris Reservoir

How could I not be excited to live in a place where some of the streets look like this?

Sunday, we went to church, then had lunch at Fairmount Park and walked around for a bit.

Such an awesome place.

 Later that evening we drove over to Bloomington to visit Tracy's mom's friend from high school. They fed us bbq steak, corn on the cob and other yummy food. We had a fun time visiting them. At the end of the day we took a trip over the the Redlands Temple. All temples should have Palm Trees.

Monday, we had to say good bye to Riverside and head home. :( We did make on last stop at Yogurt-land. Pretty sure I'll just move there for that place. lol.

We arrived that night in Vegas and stayed in Sam's Town like we did in November. James was happy to see the bear and waterfalls and the laser light show. He sure was a happy boy that night. We also took a little stroll on the strip and watch the Bellagio Fountains.

Then we came home. Now it is back to the everyday life. Had a good time and can't wait till Sept. when we'll move there for at least the next 2 years.

Easy Cheesy Potatoes with Ham

Need an easy recipe for 1 or 2? Don't feel like cooking over a hot stove? Here's an easy recipe straight from the microwave. That's right using only the microwave. Makes about 2 servings and is perfect paired with a veggie and/or fruit salad.

3 cups hash browns (country style)

1/3 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup green onion

3 oz cubed ham

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup cheese (different kinds yield different flavors.)

Combine potatoes & chicken broth in 1 qt. casserole dish, cover, microwave on high 12 min. Stir after 6 min.

Uncover and stir in green onions, pepper, & ham. Sprinkle with cheese. Microwave uncovered 1 min.

The original recipe is a little different. since Tracy doesn't like some of the ingredients that were in it, I adjusted it to our liking. So here is the link to the original.

Going private

I have decided to go private. Send me your email address either comment or email to atjthomson at gmail dot com (I will delete email addresses from the comments once I receive them.)